The problem doesn’t exist, but it occupies an outsize space in our national imagination: What if our concerns about equity and inclusion have reached such a fever pitch that exceptional straight white men don’t achieve their potential? (Somehow, those worried about this imaginary problem don’t seem to mind that society has denied opportunities to LGBTQ folks, people of color and women since the dawn of time.)

Even thornier: What if exceptional straight white men aren’t just losing out against affirmative action, but opting out of their own volition? What if they don’t even enter the rat race because of their social justice ideals, in the belief that straight white male leadership is always problematic, in the hopes that giving up their presumed spot and serving in a menial, supportive role means someone from a historically marginalized group might get ahead?

These hypotheticals are at the heart of Young Jean Lee’s smart if not entirely satisfying “Straight White Men,” now in a Bay Area premiere at Marin Theatre Company under the direction of Morgan Gould. (Next week, when the show begins performances at New York City’s Helen Hayes Theater, it will be the first play written by an Asian American woman on Broadway.)

Reuniting for a giddy, all-bachelor Christmas holiday, Ed (James Carpenter) and his sons, Matt (Ryan Tasker), Jake (Seann Gallagher) and Drew (Christian Haines), have had every reason to succeed in life. They’re rich in both talent and privilege. But conscientious Matt hasn’t made the most of himself, working in a temp job at a nonprofit “making copies for the oppressed,” as Jake says.

In an update to the script’s 2014 premiere at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, Lee disrupts the show’s traditional setup — shabby couch in a living room, unbroken fourth wall — with a framing device. Persons in Charge 1 and 2 (J Jha and Arianna Evans) guide audiences into the theater, which blares music with lyrics like “My vag won best vag. Yo vag won best supporting vag.” They introduce the play with a preshow speech explaining their own gender identities and pronouns. “I see some blank looks,” Jha said, after enumerating their preferred gender pronouns. “Are you surprised?” called out one audience member at the Wednesday, June 20, performance.

The stage directions dictate that Persons in Charge “should create a sense that the show is under the control of people who are not straight white men.” As the men take over, Jha hovers in the set’s jarring canary yellow frame (Luciana Stecconi did the design), positioning the actors before each scene, granting permission for the dialogue to start, leaving props on the family’s portion of the set that they then encounter.

At first Jha’s impassive presence casts a pall over the brothers’ rambunctiousness. They’re men-children who still tickle and roughhouse, reciting boyhood inside jokes and rhymes, all with endless poop references and cartoon voices. It’s adorable, especially with the hammy flair Gould’s cast brings. But Jha, subdued and off to the side, implies a sobering contrast: Whom does society allow to act this way? From what privilege is that behavior born?

Yet Jha’s role doesn’t develop enough over the course of the show to continue to have an impact. Before long the realism of “Straight White Men” takes over, and Lee’s framing device proves little more than window dressing.

Nor does the play explore Matt’s choice as fully as it might. He never explains himself, more cipher or twisted progressive ideal than flesh-and-blood character, despite the quiet torment that Tasker brings to the part.

Yet part of Lee’s point is that he shouldn’t have to explain himself. Why do we regard it as such a tragedy when one capable straight white guy doesn’t adhere to our norms for success? Why do we obsess so much when one man doesn’t make the most of his Harvard degree while allowing the system that granted that degree to further perpetuate inequality?

Lily Janiak joined the San Francisco Chronicle as theater critic in May 2016. Previously, her writing appeared in Theatre Bay Area, American Theatre, SF Weekly, the Village Voice and HowlRound. She holds a BA in theater studies from Yale and an MA in drama from San Francisco State.